Culture, Influence and Measurement are the Secret Sauce to Accelerating Diversity

Share it

"There is massive economic potential to be realized by accelerating gender diversity in finance and advancing women into leadership roles in Canada. Financial Institutions are well aware of the potential and have committed to driving change, yet progress is still slow. Friday, March 8, on International Women’s Day, we need to come together as Canadians and take bold steps toward gender equality in finance and corporate Canada more broadly.

Achieving this goal would have a significant impact on ordinary Canadians. Research from companies such as McKinsey & Co. suggests there is the potential to unlock $150-billion in additional economic activity through gender parity, equal to a 0.6-per-cent increase in annual GDP growth. Advisory groups including the Canada-U.S. Council for Advancement of Women have highlighted the need to promote gender advancement in financial services as a means to increase the flow of capital to female entrepreneurs. Further, studies like this one suggest that financial institutions could themselves see a 3.5-per-cent boost in revenue and a 0.7-per-cent rise in productivity through greater gender diversity. Improving gender balance (especially in leadership) is likely to strengthen and improve company performance, dividends and long-term growth.

There is no magic bullet to accelerating gender diversity. It takes an authentic commitment of both resources and time. The companies that are moving more quickly through the journey share three core approaches."